Kissing Town
by JKWhite
Summary: Kit and Nita get pulled into yet another battle against the Lone Power, but this one also has them fighting against urges they'd really rather not fight anymore. NitaKit ...Nit?
1. This is the Introduction

**A/N: **Well. My first foray into the Young Wizards fandom. Woo! My goal here is to update every three days without fail. Hopefully it won't be up to you to keep me to that.

I'm writing this because I had a plot bunny, and because there aren't enough young wizards fics out there. As my friend said, if you can't find the fic you want, (or if there aren't enough versions of the fic you want) write your own! =D Enjoy.

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**Kissing Town**

**Chapter One: This is the Introduction.**

_No_.

"Will you at least tell me why?" asked Kit. He'd been at this for over an hour, and had made absolutely zero progress.

_No_.

He closed his eyes in frustration. "Come on, just tell me. If you can convince me that you've got a good reason, I promise I'll let it drop." There was no response, and after a moment, Kit opened his eyes to see Florinda contemplating his proposal in silence. He didn't rush a response; debates were all about patience. _Life_ was all about patience, as far as he could see.

Finally, he got an answer. _I don't like him_, Florinda said.

Kit nearly rolled his eyes, but he knew that it wouldn't help his argument. "You two grew up together! I used to hear you out here chattering together all the time!" he said. "How can you suddenly not like him?"

If she had shoulders, she would have shrugged. _He's nice enough, but he isn't..._ she trailed off.

"Isn't what?" Kit prompted quietly, after waiting to make sure she wouldn't finish on her own accord.

An awkward silence. Then, _...pretty._

After a brief moment of concentrating very hard on not choking on his repressed laughter, Kit considered her point of view. If it was this big an issue for her, she must be coming from somewhere, he figured.

Florinda was a young rose in his mother's garden, barely older than a bud, who'd been putting up a racket the last couple of days. Something about her neighbor and peer Eduardo, and how the bees weren't listening to her. Things had finally gotten so bad that the bush called Kit in to mediate.

She didn't want to have Eduardo's babies, she said, and the bees just went right on pollinating her.

On one hand, he could see why she wanted all her babies to be pretty. In the flower world, beauty is a very important quality. But on the other hand, Eduardo looked almost exactly the same as Florinda, to Kit's untrained eye. Plus, the bees were giving her all sorts of pollen from random other flowers that she'd never even seen before, and she wasn't complaining about them.

Flowers didn't usually complain about this sort of thing to begin with. In fact, they usually didn't say much beyond _grow grow grow_ or occasionally _bloom bloom bloom_ as far as Kit had noticed.

"Florinda..." he began, trying to formulate an adequate response, "you are beautiful. Your babies will have half of your genes, they'll look just fine even if Eduardo does bring them down a notch." He didn't even bother trying to convince her that Eduardo was just as pretty as she was. "And you'll have plenty of other babies, the most beautiful in the garden, and his appearance probably has more to do with his position on the bush, and..." Here, he ran out of arguments.

Fortunately, a voice finished his sentence seconds after he trailed off with a declaration of _...and I love you!_ The voice belonged to Eduardo, who grew on the same bush about six inches away. He'd been trying desperately not to listen to their conversation but had failed miserably because of his proximity and because the subject matter was particularly difficult for him to ignore.

Kit raised his eyebrows. He hadn't realized flowers could feel love. Nita probably could have told him that though, if he'd asked. She was the one who usually specialized in flora relationships.

Florinda would have blushed if she were human. Instead, she showed her embarrassed pleasure with a nervous giggle. Kit didn't get a chance to hear her response, because Carmela took that moment to come bursting out of the house in a panic.

"Kit, I was just watching TV," she said, "and I think Filif is in trouble or something..."

Kit quickly stood up from where he was kneeling by the rosebush and said, "What? Why, what happened?"

"There was this sudden interruption in the channel I was watching... something about this planet being taken over by... a love spell? They interviewed some people, and Filif must have been visiting or something, and..."

Kit stopped her. "Are you sure it was him," he asked, traces of condescension in his voice, "not some other sentient tree?" He wished she'd learn that aliens didn't just "visit" other planets on a regular basis, and that different planets had all sorts of life, sometimes life very similar to that on _other _different planets.

Carmela nodded vigorously, unfazed by her brother's superiority complex. "I'd know those cute little berries anywhere," she said. "It was him."

Still doubtful, he asked, "What planet? Maybe I'll pop over there and check it out this weekend, if you're so worried." He also wished she'd learn that it wasn't up to him to solve every problem in the universe; only some of them. And that Filif could probably take care of himself just fine, if it even was him. Or better yet, that she'd learn to just leave the wizardry to him and mind her own business.

"Would you, Kit? I would go myself, but you know..." Carmela grimaced, and Kit thanked the Powers once again that she _was _bothering him about it instead of going herself. "I think they said Raw-oh...ka...nu? It's a planet close to Demisiv."

That finally caught Kit's attention. "Demisiv. That's where Filif is from, it does make sense that one of his people would make their way over to... Raw Canoe, or whatever the _actual _name of the planet may be." Here he shot his sister another condescending look. "I'll talk to Nita."

Carmela grinned. "You have no faith in me," she scolded. Then, "How's it coming with those plants?"

Kit glanced at the rosebush. The two flowers in question were chattering together just as they used to, and he gave Florinda a pat on the blossom. "They're fine," he said. "Relationship trouble, but it looks like they got over themselves."

A snort from the girl. "If only you could solve your own," she said.

He looked at her sharply. "What do you mean by that?" he snapped.

She suddenly became very interested in her hair, twisting a strand of it into a careful ringlet around her finger. "Nothing," she said, radiating unconvincing innocence.

He grunted, but decided not to push the matter. Instead, he retreated into his mind. _Neets? _he said silently.

_Yeah? _Her voice echoed through his head, loud as it would be if she were standing right next to him, and as at home in his brain as his own thoughts.

He headed toward the house, leaving his sister studying the rosebush, probably trying to pick up some relationship tips or something. He laughed quietly to himself.

_Kit? _

_Sorry, 'Mela's getting boy tips from the plants, _he said. _Or, she's trying to anyway. _He heard Nita chuckle, half a block away in her own house, and then forward the news to whoever she was with. _Probably Dairine, _he thought to himself, and when he heard her laughter echoing in the background he knew he was right.

Finally Nita came back to him. _So what's up? _she asked. _I assume that's not all you wanted to say..._

_No, _said Kit, _I think we've got a new project._

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**A/N: **So it's not my best writing, but I rather like the idea I've got going so it's not a total loss. Maybe it's the slightly different style of humor than my usual stuff, or the basic third person, or... I dunno. But I like the idea! I like the idea! So... yeah. The whole thing will probably be on the short side for a chaptered fic, maybe eight chapters total. Ten thousand words?

For those of you who have seen The Tenth Kingdom, you may be interested to know that Rhaokani will be based loosely off of a certain town from that series. If you haven't seen it, don't worry about it. You won't miss out on anything by being uninformed. I own neither that show nor Diane Duane's lovely series, obviously, and I'm only gonna say that once because it should be a given, considering the site I'm posting on. As should that request about reviewing that I won't mention at all. I mean... oops. =D

... Wow. I also promise shorter author's notes in the future.


	2. Here's Where All the Expositon is

**A/N: **Well, it would appear that the Young Wizards fandom is much less populated than Harry Potter. I was expecting that, but I wasn't expecting quite this small of a hit count. It was something close to 1:40 compared with my last HP fic. Maybe because my last HP fic was a oneshot... hmm... Clearly, the solution to this is to finish this thing quickly and get all those lazy readers like me that wait for fics to be completed before reading them. On the other hand, the view to review ratio is much better for YW than for HP, maybe because each fic is more valued here? I dunno. Anyway, enough of the rambling analysis crap, because I'm sure none of you care. Story time!

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**Chapter Two: Here's Where All the Exposition is.**

Several hours and a delicious chicken casserole later, Nita was sitting on Kit's bed pouring over what her manual had to say about the situation on Rhaokani. Kit, meanwhile, was preoccupied by his sister. Well, to be honest, Nita was preoccupied by Carmela too.

"'Mela, I told you no!" The siblings argued in the hallway, but their voices carried through the open door just fine. "I can't keep an eye on you if I'm busy rescuing an entire planet."

Nita could see Carmela's pout in her mind, even though a wall blocked the girl's view. "It's sweet that you care, but you don't need to keep an eye on me. I can take care of myself," she protested.

Nita quietly echoed Kit's snort of disbelief. "We're talking magic here, 'Mela," he said. "Sometimes you've got to fight fire with fire. And you can't start fire."

"I can so start a fire!" Carmela retorted.

"It was a metaphor, genius."

"Oh." Then, "If you don't bring me along, I'll just have to figure out my own way there." She'd done it before, and they both knew it. "You gonna make me go all by myself?"

There was a pause, and Nita feared the worst. The worst in this case being Carmela's Puss in Boots face. Usually Kit could resist that face, but there was always a slight risk. Concerned, Nita sent a thought his way. _Kit? What are you thinking? _she asked.

_If we brought her along and she got herself killed, would that be better or worse than if she got herself killed trying to follow us? _was his response.

Nita pondered that for a minute. _Too bad she's not a wizard, huh? Then at least she could take care of herself. _

_Don't say that! Er, think that. _Kit's thoughts sounded horrified at the idea.

Nita shrugged, even though he couldn't see her. _Well then, take her along. Sounds like you'd rather look after her than let her fend for herself. _

Kit scowled. Since when was Nita on Carmela's side, anyway? But then, she did have a point. And Carmela had proven herself at least a little bit useful in the past. And even a little bit self reliant. Maybe it would be okay.

"Are you telepathing with Nita again?" asked Carmela, seeing Kit's scowl.

"She says you can come," he replied reluctantly. The older girl let out an excited squeal and came running into Kit's bedroom.

"Thank you Neets!" she cried, embracing said girl in a rather shoulder-squashing hug. "Oh man, this is going to be _fantastic!" _

_What have we done? _Kit moaned in her head.

Nita just laughed. "Of course, 'Mela," she said. "Think of it as a thank you for saving my butt at the Crossings."

"Just try not to get yourself killed," said Kit from the doorway. "Mama would never forgive me."

Carmela shrugged, uninterested. "Same to you, little brother." Then, to Nita, clearly the more supportive of the two, she said, "Now, what exactly is the situation on Raw-Canoe?"

"Rhaokani," Kit corrected.

"Basically, the entire planet has been turned into some sort of romance horror blend," Nita said, ignoring their bickering. "Everyone has an overwhelming desire to give into their romantic impulses... People are going around making out on the streets, doing ridiculously sappy things... Like a valentine's day card in real life or something."

Carmela laughed in delight. "Oh, this sounds like my kind of party!" she said.

"Don't forget about the fights between rivals," came Kit's irritated voice, "and all the brokenhearted second-best suitors."

"Right," said Nita, "this isn't just some cute warped alternate universe where everyone is happy."

"Right. Ultimate evil, and all that." Carmela put on her serious face.

"Anyway, it's not just the bad stuff that's bad," said Kit, "every time someone gives into one of their urges, they slow down the universe just a little bit."

"And every time a wizard gives into one of their urges, they lose a little bit of their wizardry on top of that," added Nita. "Fortunately, now we know. It should be easier to resist when we know we have to."

"Unfortunately, the planet's already lost all of its wizards."

Carmela was suddenly struck with a horrible thought. "What about Filif, is he okay?" she asked.

Nita shrugged. "If that was him you saw on the TV, then he's probably there fighting the problem already. He knows, so he might be okay. But even wizards have trouble fighting their urges..."

"We won't know for sure until we get there and see him," said Kit. "But he's probably okay."

"If we're lucky, this will turn out to be like when Tom and Carl and all the adult wizards lost their wizardry. Hopefully, it'll all come back after we fix whatever the problem is," said Nita.

Carmela smirked, not taking the situation as seriously as she should have. As usual, really. "Are you two going to be okay controlling your urges?" she asked.

They both looked at her sharply, Nita blushing and Kit frowning. She laughed at their reactions. "No, we are not!" cried Nita at the same time Kit said "I don't know what you're talking about."

Their violent denial made Carmela far more suspicious than if they had admitted that they were equally vulnerable to the curse. Not that she had any doubts about how things stood between them anyway.

"Sorry I asked," she said, not at all sorry. "So when do we leave?"

"Tomorrow," said Kit. "We'd go tonight, but a good night's sleep before a big trip like this is worth more than promptness."

Nita nodded her agreement. "Being half out of your mind with sleep-deprivation is the best way to end up doing stupid things. Speaking of which, I'd better head home and get a head start on that sleeping thing. We're leaving at the crack of dawn."

Carmela shuddered, but nodded. "Crack of dawn. I can handle that," she said, not sounding entirely sure of herself.

"I'll see you out," said Kit as Nita hopped off the bed and headed towards the door. "And 'Mela, get out of my room."

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**A/N: **The first person who can tell me whether Carmela has actually ever called Nita 'Neets' in the books, I'll go read one of your fics and give you a super awesome praise-filled and detailed review. Or give you a cyber-cookie. Your choice. (I'm too lazy to go look it up myself right now, since that would probably involve reading at least the last three books and... I'm busy writing!)

I like this chapter a little better than the last one, even though it fought me every sentence of the way. Sucker just did not want to be written. (I even managed a little Liar Game one-shot during the I'm-Not-Talking-To-You awkward silences. I mean what? Self-promotion? What are you talking about? (Are there even any YW people that are familiar with Liar Game? Probably not...)) But it exists now, so THERE. On time, even. Go me! Let's see if we can keep THAT up!

Looks like I lied about shorter author's notes. Sorry...

And, as always, _please_ tell me if you find any horrible spelling (or factual) mistakes. They're awfully embarrassing.


	3. The Plot Finally Takes Off Now

**A/N: **... I didn't mean to bring Carmela along. It was supposed to be Dairine, but Carmela just begged her way into Dairine's place. I think she'll do a better job at the role than Dairine would, anyway, so really it's all for the best.

**Chapter Three: The Plot Finally Takes Off Now.**

Nita was already back at the Rodriguez residence by the time Carmela awoke. She and Kit were sitting in the kitchen setting up transport spells when the unusually disheveled girl stumbled down the stairs, hair a tangled mess and eyes tired. Waffles burned quietly in the background.

Kit glanced up when she entered the room. "You made it!" He sounded surprised.

Carmela sniffed in response. Then, "Uh, Kit? How long since you checked the waffles?" when her brain registered the smell.

The wizards both leapt from their chairs in a panic. Then Nita stopped, seeing that Kit had things under control, at the same time that Kit stopped, seeing that Nita had things under control. A couple jerking start-and-stops later, the pair gave up, laughed, and went to rescue the waffles together.

"Ugh, so much for a tasty breakfast," muttered Nita.

"Seriously," moaned Kit, prying the charred batter from the top of the iron with a fork. "Do we even want to eat this now?" he asked.

She broke off a blackened corner and nibbled it thoughtfully. "Nope," she finally decided. "There's enough batter to just make a new one." _Sorry about that, _she added to the crispy disaster that was supposed to have been her breakfast. It was a bit too fried to reply.

Carmela watched the drama from the doorway, relying on the frame to keep her upright as she laughed her head off. Seeing her brother make a fool of himself was definitely worth getting up early.

"Hey, we were gonna give one to you, but now there's just not enough to go around," said Kit when he noticed her hysterics.

She didn't stop laughing. It was all she could do to gasp "I don't mind cereal" before the next wave of giggle hit. Nita dumped the waffle carcass into the garbage and returned to the table.

"We've got just a little bit more to do here, and then we'll be ready to go," she said as she fiddled with a few loose strands of the spell.

Carmela took this as her hint to eat while she had the chance, and made her way over to the cupboard as best she could, still laughing. Kit rolled his eyes and came to join Nita. "Make sure you keep an eye on it this time," said Carmela, "or I'll be annoyed that I could have slept in more." She poured herself a bowl of cornflakes and joined them at the table.

"Don't set that there!" cried Kit when she went to put her bowl right on a corner of the spell.

She moved the bowl to the very edge of the table, the only clear space in front of her. "Sorry," she said. For once, it sounded like she might have meant it.

She munched in silence, watching the wizards with interest as they finished laying out the spell diagram, smirking when they remembered to pull the waffles out of the iron. She figured she had the better end of the deal when it came to wizardry; she got to come along to all these cool places, but she never had to do any of the work.

Soon, their attention turned from the spell to the breakfast. The two friends also ate in silence, hurrying to wolf their breakfast down as fast as possible. When Carmela finished her cereal, she went back upstairs to wash up and brush her hair.

"Why are we bringing her along again?" Kit asked after she was gone.

Nita giggled. "Because she's your sister and you love her," she said.

A snort. "Why are we bringing her along again?" he repeated, disregarding her first answer as ridiculous and therefore not worth acknowledging.

"Because she would have come along anyway, somehow." She reminded him.

"Oh yeah." He didn't sound overly thrilled.

"At least she's not a wizard, right? Think how I feel, having to deal with Dairine all the time." She delicately placed the last bite of delicious, non-burned waffle into her mouth.

Kit rolled his eyes. "Dairine's not as bad as Carmela," he protested. "Even if she is a wizard."

"Speak for yourself. You don't have to live with her!"

"True." Kit, having finished his waffle as well, picked up their plates and stuck them in the sink with Carmela's empty bowl. "Well, I think we're about ready then," he said. "Quick, let's leave before she comes back!"

But alas, Carmela chose that moment to come thumping back down the stairs at uncharacteristically high speeds. "Ready!" she cried as she burst into the room, looking far more put together than she had when she'd left it.

Nita laughed as Kit sighed. "Stand here," she directed the older girl, pointing to a loop of the spell. Carmela did as she was told, thankfully obedient when it came to the actual wizardry, and Kit and Nita took their own places on the other two points of the triangle.

"Ready?" asked Kit when they were situated.

"Yup!"

"Ready." Nita's eyes met Kit's and they began to recite the spell, consulting their manuals for the words yet somehow never breaking their visual contact. Carmela just watched and listened, drawn in by the words and the sound of their voices. They blended together with a sort of indescribable magic both separate from the spell and an essential part of it. Gradually, their very beings seemed to blend together, Carmela's with them, tied to the planet with invisible forces but slowly dissolving from the world she was most familiar with. The world was black and swirling with emotions and life and everything and nothing, and then suddenly, like the snap of a rubber band, it was over. They'd arrived.

The trio blinked and looked around, getting their bearings while trying not to vomit at the sudden change of, well, everything. Carmela had slightly more trouble with this than the expert planet-hoppers, but managed to keep her cornflakes securely digesting in her stomach.

Rhaokani looked vaguely like home. The planet was about the size of earth, the population seemed to be humanoid and lived in dwellings similar to human apartments, and the sky was as overcast as the one they'd just left. But on the other hand, it was really nothing like earth.

The three earthlings had arrived near the edge of a town unlike any town they'd ever seen before. Most notable were the architectural differences (which involved 12-story buildings made of what appeared to be grass) and the wardrobe differences (which involved beautiful gowns and extravagant hats).

Nita wondered vaguely if their fashion statements had anything to do with the love curse, or if they were that way naturally. Somehow she suspected the latter. For one thing, it wasn't just the women wearing dresses, it was everybody. The style of the men's gowns was different, perhaps slightly tamer and more manly, but they were still unmistakably gowns.

"Well gosh, I feel under-dressed," muttered Carmela.

Nita turned to Kit. "Maybe we'd better do something so we don't stick out too badly?" she suggested.

Kit gave her a look that said "no way are you getting me into such a ridiculous costume" and Nita privately agreed with his disapproval. "Filif isn't going around in a ball gown, I don't see why I should," he said.

If wizardry were hidden from the rest of the population as it was on earth, they would have had to suck it up and blend. But luckily the manual (and the buildings, which were clearly supported by magic) told them that Rhaokani wasn't like that.

"Right. Normal clothes it is, then." That determined, they focused their attention back on the town. Carmela toyed with the idea of slipping away from her escorts to go shopping, but decided that those dresses really were rather impractical. Besides, she was more interested in finding Filif than fitting in. She began to scan the crowds, hunting for sentient trees.

Meanwhile, Nita and Kit were busy taking in the state of things. Upon first glance, they had focused on the major differences of this planet, but now they noticed the little details that were the reason they'd made the trip.

No one was alone, and theirs was the only trio in sight. Everyone else was paired off, strolling through town with their significant other, or making out on one of the roadside benches, or sparring with a rival in the apartment balconies. Flowers bloomed everywhere, and petals covered the streets.

Most of the people looked genuinely happy. It was really a pity the whole situation was so unnatural, because it looked so idealistic. Aside from the sparring rivals in the balconies, of course.

Nita smiled goofily, her romantic side blossoming. "Wouldn't it be nice if the world could actually be like this?" she murmured.

Then a body came flying through the air at them from the roof of the closest building.

**A/N: **Umm, the waffles kind of took over the beginning of this chapter, (I should've known from "waffles burned quietly in the background" that they were gonna upstage everything, but I didn't really realize what they were up to until a few paragraphs later.) so it's a bit longer to make up for the unimportant silliness. Mostly because I reached 1000 words (my minimum chapter length) before I'd gotten to the plot promised in the chapter title. I trust no one minds the extra length.

In other news, the next chapter might be a day late, due to the hustle and bustle of college move-in. (And since I've given myself this excuse, "might" means "will". Sorry... I'll catch up with chapter five, I swear!)

And, as always, _please_ tell me if you find any horrible spelling (or factual) mistakes. They're awfully embarrassing.


	4. The Chapter with Thickening Plot

**A/N: **Sorry about the delay, the hustle and bustle lasted even longer than I suspected. A lot longer. Uhh... I may have to cut back to one chapter a week now that school's started. I'll try for more, but one a week's sort of all I can guarantee. Sorry about that. ): Anyway, here's this one!

**Chapter Four: The Chapter with Slightly Thickening Plot.**

Under normal circumstances, Nita would have tried to help. She would have thought of some spell to catch him, or to soften his landing, or she would have run to try to catch him herself, or at least try to soften his landing with her body. Under ordinary circumstances, she would have been concerned for this random stranger first and herself second. And it wasn't exactly because she was concerned for herself, even, that she found herself clinging to Kit damsel-in-distress-style before she had time to think. Really, it was worse than that. It was a twisted romantic image her brain somehow managed to come up with, probably planted there by too many Disney movies.

At any rate, when the body came flying through the air at them, Nita lunged for Kit, who lunged for her (so at least that worked out), and they clung to each other for protection or something. Meanwhile, the flying body fell to the ground three feet to their left.

Fortunately for everyone concerned, he bounced. Into the air again he went, and then on down the street, boing, boing, boing, each bounce getting shorter until he rolled into a sort of ungraceful heap of long limbs and garish fabric, just outside of a sparkly pink café.

"Wow. Guys, what just happened?" Carmela's voice broke through the stunned silence from behind the pair of wizards.

Nita and Kit regained control of their reflexes and sprung apart, blushing. Since neither of them felt like addressing their unusual reactions at the moment, they went unmentioned. Which isn't to say that Carmela hadn't taken note, just that she wisely remained silent on the subject. Well, more for blackmail purposes than politeness, but still.

Kit busied himself with consulting his manual for the answer to Carmela's question, concentrating hard on the words and blocking out his horror and embarrassment at what he'd done. Or hadn't done, really, because in ordinary circumstances, his reaction would have been the same as Nita's would have been.

Since looking in her manual would be a bit redundant and Nita was never one for being redundant, she focused her attention on the man down the street. She would have gone right over to help him, covering her embarrassment with philanthropy, but a whole herd of people seemed to have come out of the sparkly pink café to assist, and he was standing, talking, looking angry but unhurt. He was in good hands she was sure, and her help there would be redundant as well.

"Hmm," said Kit, "it doesn't say anything about the ground or people being bouncy..." he hopped up and down, and suddenly it was as if he were jumping on a trampoline. Yet the ground didn't appear to be moving at all.

"That's weird..." said Nita. She took a step, and it was as normal as walking on earth. She stomped down hard, and all she got for her troubles was a painful foot. She jumped, both feet leaving the ground, and when she came back down, she bounced back up again. "You'd think the manual would mention something like this."

"Unless it's new." Kit had finally gotten control of his bouncing and resolved not to let both feet leave the ground anymore.

Nita lost track of her concentration for a split second at the peak of a bounce. Suddenly, she was overcome by an overwhelming urge to bounce over to Kit and give him a hug. So she did. "I'm sure you're right," she said, her bounces slowly losing their spring as she approached him. "You always seem to be."

Carmela snorted, but neither of them noticed. Kit, caught up in the tone he'd never heard her use and slightly entranced by her approach, had lost his focus on their situation as well. "Oh yeah?" he said. She came to a stop in front of him, no longer moving vertically or horizontally.

"Mm hmm."

His hand drifted forward to touch her side, pulling her a few inches closer. "Well I think _you're_ always right," he said. There was a strange sort of playfulness that Nita dimly recognized as similar to the tone he used when he was teasing her but very, very different. "How can I always be right when you're always right?"

"Must be we're both always right." She inched closer and slipped her arms around his waist. Neither was particularly aware of how ridiculous their conversation was getting. Carmela watched in interest, wondering when they would snap out of it and go back to their usual selves. Their reactions would be spectacular. It was about time they got together, she thought, but she hadn't thought it would happen anytime soon.

Then she realized where they were and why they were acting that way. And more importantly, what it meant for the rest of the world and entropy and all that wizard stuff. "Kit!" she cried. "Nita! What are you _doing__‽__"_

They didn't hear her.

"How about when we disagree though?" Kit murmured, oblivious to the world around him.

Nita giggled. "When have we ever disagreed?"

Carmela tried hard not to laugh at that blatent untruth, realizing this was not the time for mockery, this was the time for saving the world.

"CHRISTOPHER RODRIGUEZ, LOOK AT ME RIGHT NOW!" He heard her this time, and reluctantly pulled his eyes from Nita's and turned to his sister with "must you?" clearly written all over his face. Then, as if suddenly hit with a figurative eraser, his face quickly changed to more of an "oh crap!" expression and he jerked himself away from his friend.

Nita, still under the spell of the love spell, looked offended for a split second. Then she too took on the "oh crap!" face, though hers was accompanied by very red cheeks. Oh no wait, Kit's were reddening too. Basically, they wore identical expressions of mortified horror.

"Uhh..." Kit tried desperately to come up with an explanation.

Nita didn't even try. "Sorry, 'Mela. Thanks for saving us," she said. Then, to Kit, _"This _is why we brought her along. Apparently."

Kit wailed a little in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Neets," he said quietly. "I didn't think that was going to happen, I thought I'd be able to..." he cut himself off, realizing that if he kept talking, they'd wind up mashed together again, caught up in the spell a third time. "We gotta concentrate," he said instead.

"Right, let's see if we can find Filif, or some indication of how to fight this thing, or something," said Nita, all businesslike again. "Just keep thinking about the Lone One. We can get through this."

"We always do..."

**A/N: **Wow, I have nothing to say here... Weird. Oh! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'll get around to replying individually sometime, but there's so much busy here right now that it may be a while. Don't think that that means I love you any less than I did at the beginning.

And, as always, spelling, typos, facts: if they're wrong, let me know!


	5. Action Almost Occurs

**A/N: **Uurrrrrgh, I'm sorry guys. x.x (To be honest, I was impressed that I managed to stick to my schedule for as long as I did. Anyway, progress'll happen eventually. Hopefully in fairly closely spaced intervals, although with nano coming up it may be a while til the next update.)

Uh, interesting tidbit: this chapter was mostly written in the shower over the course of the last few weeks. Because apparently I have no free time aside from that.

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**Chapter Five: Action (Almost) Occurs**

The trio's resolve to put an end to the curse as soon as possible was renewed with a new intensity after seeing its power firsthand.

"Let's see if we can find some wizards on this rock," Kit suggested.

Nita immediately flipped her manual open to the directory. "There wouldn't be any locals left," she said as she turned the pages, "but maybe there are a few fly-ins like us."

"It was all over the news, there've got to be a few," agreed Kit. "Filif, for one, or whoever the sentient tree was."

Carmela wasn't paying any attention to their conversation, which was probably for the best. Their conversation got them nowhere. The manual was surprisingly unhelpful and only listed the two earthlings. ("Huh, that's strange... we're looking at the right planet, yeah?") But while they looked in the book, Carmela looked at the streets. This yielded more positive results. In as much time as it took Kit and Nita to come to the conclusion that their manual wasn't going to tell them what they wanted to know, Carmela had spotted a flurry of green down the street a ways.

"Is that Filif?" she cried. "Filif!" And she began to run down the street towards him.

Kit and Nita looked up in surprise. Sure enough, there was their favorite tree standing on the street corner a couple blocks down. _Who would have thought it would be that easy?_ they thought in unison. Then, "Hey!" cried Kit, and followed his sister.

But something didn't quite add up to Nita. Namely, if Filif was here, why wasn't he showing up in the manual? "Carmela wait!" she yelled. No need to go running blindly into suspicious situations. It would be best to think this out, study the tree from a distance, anything other than what the older girl was doing.

Carmela didn't hear her cry, but Kit did. "'Mela!" he called. "Wait, come back!" He didn't know exactly what it was that Nita wanted, but he knew that it must be urgent by the tone of her voice and the flash of emotion that was transmitted into his brain when she yelled.

Although she heard this time, his sister didn't have the same implicit trust in him that he had in Nita. "I don't need you to tell me what to do!" she yelled back.

He shot Nita a quick _and this is why we should have left her at home _thought and turned up the speed. "Carmela!"

Carmela finally slowed, perhaps because she finally started to pick up on the urgency in his voice, or perhaps because she finally realized she was way out of her depth in this whole adventure and probably shouldn't fight with her transportation. At any rate, she turned around just in time to see a whirl of impressive cyan crash into her brother, knocking him flat.

If Kit had spent more time on the internet and less time saving the world, his initial reaction might have been "OMG, WTF?!"

Instead, his reaction was a startled "oomph!" And then there was no time for any other thoughts. The whirl of cyan, what appeared on second glance to be a young man native to Rhaokani, was up in his face hollering. "What do you think you're doing? You stay away from her! If she doesn't want you near her, you let her go!" he yelled. "How dare you just ignore her pleas and keep on chasing her! She has the same right to happiness you do, and her happiness clearly doesn't involve you!"

Kit lay on the ground, stunned. Meanwhile, Nita made her way over to the activity and not even the love spell could hold back her laughter. As for Carmela, who had also returned to the scene, well... she was glad she'd gotten up early that day.

The man, noticing her arrival, put a protective arm around her. "You are safe, my beautiful lady," he said.

"Thanks dude," she managed between bursts of uncontrollable laughter. "That could have been disastrous."

The man frowned. "You're laughing," he said. "Why do you laugh? Does my service not please you?"

Another peel of laughter. "Oh yes, it..." Snickers. "It pleases me very much."

"Then would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the ball tonight?"

Now it was Kit's turn to crack up, from his still sprawling position on the ground. Nita, by the point, had nearly split a gut laughing. Carmela was suddenly somber.

"Oh, gosh..." she said, "that's awfully sweet of you, but I really can't."

Her rejection was gentle, yet the man looked stunned. "You... no?" he spluttered.

Carmela shook her head. "I mean, I don't even know your name, and—"

"Romilyn," he told her quickly. "I'm so sorry to be so rude, I'm Romilyn. And you are?"

"Carmela, but—"

"Great, I'll come to retrieve you for dinner beforehand. Where are you staying, fair Carmela?"

She blinked, barely keeping up with her own conversation. "No! Wait! I can't."

And Romilyn was back to heartbreak again in an instant. "Why not?" he asked. "Do I repulse you so?"

He looked so sad that Carmela couldn't bear to just outright reject him like she would under ordinary circumstances. "No no!" she cried. "Just... I've got plans already for tonight."

"With him?" He gestured scornfully towards the sprawling Kit.

"Well, yes."

A firm nod from the alien, and then he took a step toward Kit. "Good sir, I challenge you to a duel for the heart of the fair Carmela."

"Uhh..." This from both Carmela and Kit.

When Romilyn looked like he was about to take that uhh as acceptance, Nita decided it was certainly time to step in. "Um, Romilyn?" she said. The man spun to face her, surprised to find that there was a fourth party involved. "He's, uh... He's not a threat," she said, careful to keep from laughing in his face. That would be rude.

"Oh, he is with you, then?" For some reason, Romilyn seemed to accept sudden change of facts without question.

"Uhh..."

He didn't wait for a more decisive answer, his attention returned to Carmela. "Why do your obligations to him hold so strong, if he does not hold your heart?"

Carmela took a breath. This wasn't going to be pretty. "Look, I appreciate your attention, but I'm just not that interested in you."

Whatever outbreak she was expecting did not happen. Instead, the man simply nodded. "Alright," he said, "I accept your challenge. I will win your heart if it takes me a lifetime."

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**A/N: **Well shoot... there goes Carmela taking over the story. I'll try to tame her a bit, in the future.


End file.
